Author: BO

When Darren Lynn Bousman makes a movie, it’s usually sold as a feature from “The director of ‘Saw II, III, and IV’.” While it’s an accurate claim, Bousman hasn’t enjoyed the most inspired career, also helming duds such as “11-11-11,” “Mother’s Day,” and “The Barrens.” “Abattoir” is the latest misfire from Bousman, who seems consumed with becoming a top horror conductor, only his orchestra is perpetually out of tune. Blame for the ridiculousness of “Abattoir” is shared with screenwriter Christopher Monfette, but Bousman doesn’t plan to cover the story’s strangeness with a big enough budget, keeping events on the cheap, which makes it impossible to get lost in this noir-ish take on murder, menace, and the gate to Hell. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s tough out there for action heroes these days. The titans of the industry have aged out of the quest for cinematic dominance, and the next generation doesn’t have the benefit of a VHS revolution, earning their reputation through basic cable repetition and games of lonely Saturday night VOD roulette. We once had Schwarzenegger, and now we have Scott Adkins. Trying to bring his own special sauce to the party is Tom Hopper, who beefs and strips down for “Kill Ratio,” delivering his take on a standard survival actioner. Hopper certainly has the physicality for the part, showcasing his muscular hairlessness throughout the feature, but there’s a more challenging war to be waged with the production, as director Paul Tanter struggles to make something out of nothing with “Kill Ratio,” which doesn’t have the budget to become the explosive bruiser he imagines. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It’s certainly understandable why Katie Holmes has decided to take more control of her career. Just over a decade ago, she was the focus of the marketing push for “First Daughter” and co-starred in “Batman Begins.” Five years ago, she was playing second banana to Adam Sandler in drag in “Jack and Jill.” Industry opportunities weren’t trending upward. Holmes makes her directorial debut with “All We Had,” an adaptation of an Annie Weatherwax novel and material that unsurprisingly permits the star to achieve the greatest performance of her career. It’s an episodic picture, and perhaps a premise seen one too many times, but Holmes finds a way to soften cliché and make the feature feel lived-in and emotionally true. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Filling in an empty slot during a release weekend that’s generally regarded at the worst of the film year, it’s up to “Incarnate” to thrill audiences with its take on demonic possession and the spiritual heroes sent in to challenge evil. Shot three years ago, it’s little surprise that the movie is a dud, but it’s not an aggressive disaster, just a poorly assembled effort that looks like it was re-edited dozens of times, with the final cut less about being functional genre entertainment and more about being done. A low-budget chiller that doesn’t really have any detectable scares, “Incarnate” is a Thanksgiving turkey put out for display a week late, trying to suck up as much single-weekend cash as it can before word spreads that it’s completely forgettable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“The Eyes of My Mother” is the debut feature for writer/director Nicolas Pesce, and it’s quite the introduction. It’s a spare chiller that treats perversion and murder almost casually, managing to unnerve through distance, showcasing the young filmmaker’s interest in slow-burn storytelling and mystery, with the feature taking its sweet time to play out in full. Visually, it’s stunning, using black and white cinematography to unsettle as it depicts grotesque body horrors and the daily routine of demented individuals, with Pesce attentive to scenes where the unthinkable becomes mundane to the characters. “The Eyes of My Mother” is gruesome and macabre, but it’s also powerful work, following through on a vision for psychosis with welcome brevity and a weirdly compelling, periodically loathsome fondness for the unpleasant. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Ever since he completed work on the “Twilight” franchise, actor Taylor Lautner has encountered difficulty finding a career direction that allows him to break away from his enduring legacy as a lonesome werewolf. He’s tried comedy (“Grown Ups 2,” “The Ridiculous Six”) and actioners (“Tracers,” “Abduction”), but nothing has stuck. With “Run the Tide,” Lautner elects to go inward, toplining a domestic disturbance drama that allows him plenty of room to emote, taking an opportunity to showcase other sides of his screen presence. Perhaps a leading man career is not meant to be for Lautner, but “Run the Tide” is easily the best work he’s done to date, handling himself adequately as screenwriter Rajiv Shah checks off every cliché in the book, making it nearly impossible for the movie to find a place of authentic ache. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A decade ago, writer/director Dito Montiel arrived on the scene with “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” a personal indie creation that managed to attract enough attention to gift the filmmaker a career. His subsequent endeavors have attempted to replicate his first feature’s raw energy, with most failing to be engrossing or enlightening, often tripped up by poor helming decisions and Montiel’s addiction to melodrama. He hasn’t been the most inspiring architect of blood-on-the-lens dramas, with his work generally more about passion than quality. “Man Down” joins Montiel’s growing list of disappointments, taking a cheap, borderline reckless look at the state of PTSD in military veterans, using such pained alienation and madness to inspire an aimless story of self-sacrifice, with Montiel hoping to educate and horrify. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

“Nerdland” doesn’t add anything new to the study of Hollywood as an empty shell of humanity, where aspiring entertainment business professionals race to the bottom, believing that degradation might invite the bright light of fame into their lives. However, the production does have a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker, who two decades ago stunned the world with “Seven,” and now boasts a sporadic enough filmography to suggest he knows a thing or two about industry disappointment. It’s an animated feature from director Chris Prynoski, who doesn’t have much of a budget, but he offers a bizarre visual design for “Nerdland,” working to support Walker’s tale of desperation with cartoon magnification, trying to turn a universal idea on the hunger to be noticed into a funhouse journey of strange characters and macabre events. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The “V/H/S” franchise wore out its welcome after the first film, but “Siren” (stylized “SiREN” for some reason) is determined to keep it going. It’s a feature-length adaptation of “Amateur Night,” a segment from the original “V/H/S,” though writer/director David Bruckner doesn’t return, with helming duties passed over to Gregg Bishop, the “Dance of the Dead” moviemaker who also contributed a short to “V/H/S: Viral.” It’s a small world with horror directors, but as transitions of power go, Bishop does an adequate job with “Siren,” joining screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski to expand a thin concept of monstrous seduction, keeping levels of sex and violence high enough to forgive stretches of padding needed to beef up material that originated as a 15 minute blast of shaky cam and screaming.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2003’s “Bad Santa” had better timing than creative instincts, released during a period when moviegoers were hungry from something off-beat and decidedly R-rated, going after the sacred holiday of Christmas with nothing but simple characterization and pure vulgarity. It managed to make some money, while its video release secured a cult following. However, a sequel wasn’t necessary, and the producers certainly took their time to create one, battling legal issues and screenwriting blues to bang out another criminal adventure for Willie Soke and his pronounced misanthropy. “Bad Santa 2” isn’t the follow-up fans have earned, but it’s one they probably deserve, watching the production misjudge what made the first picture so popular, putting all emphasis on crude dialogue and antics, almost forgetting there should be an actual film underneath its scummy top layer. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com